This study assessed perception of suprasegmental features of speech by 30 prelingual children with sensorineural hearing loss. Ten children had cochlear implants (CIs), and 20 children wore hearing aids (HA): 10 with severe hearing loss and 10 with profound hearing loss. Perception of intonation, syllable stress, word emphasis, and word pattern was assessed. Results revealed that the two HA groups significantly outperformed the CI group in perceiving both intonation and stress. Within each group, word pattern was perceived best, and then intonation and emphasis, with syllable stress perceived poorest. No significant correlation emerged between age at implantation and perception of the various suprasegmental features, possibly due to participants' relatively late age at implantation. Results indicated that CI use did not show an advantage over HA use in the perception of suprasegmental features of speech. Future research should continue to explore variables that might improve this perception.

Prelingual children with isolated AN who fail to show expected oral and auditory progress after extensive rehabilitation with conventional hearing aids should be considered for cochlear implantation. Children with isolated AN had similar pattern as children with SNHL on auditory performance tests after cochlear implantation. The lower current charge required to evoke subjective and objective electrical thresholds in children with AN compared with children with SNHL may be attributed to the contribution to electrophonic hearing from the remaining neurons and hair cells. In addition, it is also possible that mechanical stimulation of the basilar membrane, as in acoustic stimulation, is added to the electrical stimulation of the cochlear implant.

Mammography has a crucial role in the detection of breast cancer (Bc), yet it is not limitation-free. We hypothesized that the combination of mammography and cell-free DnA (cfDnA) levels may better discriminate patients with cancer. This prospective study included 259 participants suspected with Bc before biopsy. Blood samples were taken before biopsy and from some patients during and at the end of treatment. cfDNA blood levels were measured using our simple fluorescent assay. The primary outcome was the pathologic diagnosis of Bc, and the secondary aims were to correlate cfDnA to severity, response to treatments, and outcome. Median cfDnA blood levels were similar in patients with positive and negative biopsy: 577 vs. 564 ng/ml (p = 0.98). A significant decrease in cfDnA blood level was noted after the following treatments: surgery, surgery and radiation, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery, and at the end of all treatments. to conclude, the cfDnA level could not be used in suspected patients to discriminate Bc. Reduction of tumor burden by surgery and chemotherapy is associated with reduction of cfDnA levels. in a minority of patients, an increase in post-treatment cfDnA blood level may indicate the presence of a residual tumor and higher risk. further outcome assessment for a longer period is suggested. Breast cancer (BC) is the most common form of cancer diagnosed in women worldwide, and is a leading cause of death among women in the United States and Israel 1. Mortality rates in developed countries have been declining in the last decade due to mammographic screening and improved adjuvant/neo-adjuvant therapy. Conversely, the mortality rate in undeveloped countries has been increasing due to the lack of screening and the westernization of reproductive and nutritional patterns 2. Mammography is the only screening tool proven effective for detecting early breast cancer and reducing mortality. Yet mammography and ultrasound-assisted core needle biopsy (US-CNB) limitations have been raised. In a meta-analysis of eight eligible trials of 600,000 women, Gøtzsche and Nielsen found no effect of screening on BC mortality after 10 years. These authors concluded that screening led to 30% over-diagnosis and over-treatment, or an absolute increase of 0.5% in the risk of death. In fact, nearly 20% of women without BC underwent biopsy after ten mammograms 3. As for US-CNB, the overall false-negative rate may reach 6.1% and a diagnosis underestimation rate of 31.4%. While US-CNB is useful in confirming invasive carcinomas, it has much lower efficacy when only ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS) is detected. Among lesions yielding DCIS at US-CNB, surgery revealed an infiltrating carcinoma in 16-55.5% of patients 4 .

In cochlear implant candidates, the presence of a third window could cause an ABG because of stapes motion-induced shunting of acoustic energy outside the cochlear duct in response to air-conducted stimuli while bone conduction is preserved.

An erythematous eruption with itching developed in an 84-year-old man 4 days after therapy with allopurinol was initiated. The diagnosis of toxic epidermal necrolysis, suspected when separation of the epidermis was noted, was confirmed by skin biopsy. This is the third reported case that can be attributed exclusively to allopurinol and the first patient who did not die.